One Thing That Kills Your Google AdWords Marketing

Derek Ashauer

Marketers who love Google AdWords will tell you that it’s fast, reliable, and cost-effective. Those who aren’t fans tend to say that it’s too competitive, too expensive, and doesn’t lead to enough conversions.

Over the years, we have learned from offering Pay-Per-Click management that there is one defining characteristic that separates these two groups from one another: those who love pay-per-click advertising with Google have great Quality Scores for their targeted keywords. The ones who aren’t profiting from AdWords don’t.

That shouldn’t be surprising because a low AdWords Quality Score will destroy your campaigns. It will eat away at your bottom line as you pay more for every click, see your ads shown less often, and sacrifice search positioning to your competitors. Remember, your Quality Score serves as a multiplier. A good one means more visibility for less money, while a bad one means paying more per click for fewer impressions.

That’s easy enough to understand, but a lot of small business owners struggle to raise their AdWords Quality Scores and get stuck in a vicious loop of high bid prices and declining results. To help you do better, today we want to share a handful of quick tips you can use to raise yours immediately…

Focus Your Google AdWords Campaigns

Whenever possible, have no more than five search terms in a single ad group. And if you can, use the phrase and exact match options, along with plenty of negative keywords. This focus will help you ensure you’re targeting the perfect audience with every ad.

Use Stronger Ad Headlines

You only have a moment to grab attention from someone who is searching on Google. Make your headline into a compelling offer. If possible, use the exact match search term, as well, since this will cause part of your ad text to be bolded within the search results and lead to more clicks.

Split-Test Ads for Click through Rate

There are several factors that go into Google’s Quality Score assessment, but click through rate is the most important. Keep testing different variations of your ad until you find the one buyers respond to best. You can raise your Quality Score a couple points just by getting more searchers to click.

Make Sure Your Landing Page Copy is Relevant

The landing page associated with your ad should contain important search terms, as well. Google wants to see a match between the original search, the text of your ad, and the messaging on the destination page. If there is a disconnect, your Quality Score will suffer.

Remember Account History Factors Into the Mix

Brand-new Google AdWords accounts, along with those that suffered from low Quality Scores in the past, start out with lower scores as a default. However, it shouldn’t take more than a week of improved clicks and engagement to see numbers and efficiency start to rise. In other words, your account history can weigh you down, but not for a long period of time.

At first, it might seem as if raising your Google AdWords Quality Scores is an impossible task. But, if you take the steps one at a time, you’ll find they can actually raise pretty quickly. Then, the results you get from your PPC budget can improve dramatically.

To get expert help configuring your Google AdWords account, contact our team today to arrange for free in-person consultation and account review.